Daytime, Sleep, and Dream – Part III: Dream

In the first part of this series, we explored the importance of staying awake and present during the daytime hours. This practice can help you experience the richness and value inherent in each, individual waking moment.

In the second week we were introduced to the meaning of “striking the gong of the alaya,” or falling asleep deeply in order to really rest at night and wake up refreshed in the morning. Learning to let go and strike the gong of the alaya each night can also help you prepare to “let go” at the very end of your life.

This week we will focus on the bardo-like quality of dreams. Here are some guidelines to help you get the most out of your dreams, and also get some practice for the mind state immediately following your actual, physical death.

First, remember that dreaming is meant to be a spontaneous, uncontrived process. Try to let dream images present themselves to you, rather than going to sleep thinking you can, in some way, manipulate a dream’s content. Dreaming is like watching a movie in your mind: Is the theatre showing a Western? Enjoy the cowboys. A romance? Relish the love story. A horror flick? Embrace the terror.

Next, actually appreciate the flexible, fluid mind state–the unfolding–of a dream. Experience the special effects; be entertained. For instance, you might be able to defy gravity in one dream, allowing your body to fly through the air. In another dream, you might be a young child again, sitting on the lap of a dear, departed grandparent.

As you wake up, do not judge a dream’s content as good or bad, or fixate on specific details. It does no good to have a preference for specific plot, setting, or characters, because dreams already have a director: the karma you have created during your waking hours and throughout your lifetime(s). So let the dream simply unfold. Then, when you wake up, let the dream go, regardless of your attachment or aversion to the particular storyline.

If you continue to fixate the content of your dreams–thinking that some parts are problematic and troubling while others are straightforward and comforting–that tendency to judge phenomena will continue to shadow your waking life. The key here is that you need to let your life unfold, uncontrived–awake, asleep, and even while dreaming.

Here is an example. If your meditation practice is based on trickery–if you are meditating to teach your mind to “do” particular things and refrain from doing others things–that is not genuine meditation.

You cannot learn about yourself, understand your nature, or liberate yourself from suffering by “faking” it. A practitioner’s goal is certainly not to train an ignorant mind to adapt phenomena to suit its relative needs–the point, instead, is to wake up from that very tendency.

When you can sit back and observe your mind–awake, asleep, and even while dreaming–you are truly learning to embrace your meditation practice. You do not have to do anything differently in order to recognize the illusory quality of phenomena; you just need observe the unfolding of your mind, free from fear, attachment, or indifference.

Compiled and edited from Personal Link #74 given 5/21/2000.

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